A conventional foot pedal for a musical instrument rotates a beater 121 to beat a drum, as shown in FIG. 1, or to raise or lower an operating rod for a high hat cymbal 130, as shown in FIG. 2.
A conventional pedal F shown in FIG. 3 comprises a footboard 100 which operates the action part, i.e., the beater 121 or the operating rod 131, and a heel plate 110 that is connected to the rear of the footboard 100. A link 101 connects the footboard to the action part. The footboard 100 is movable while the heel plate 110 is stationary. They are connected at a pivot in a rotatable fashion at axle 105. This connection in the prior art includes a cut out concave 102 region formed at the rear of the pedal plate 100, a rotation axle 105 extending across the concave 102 and a convex part 111 extending forward from the heel plate and extending into the concave 102. A trough hole 112 is provided across the convex part 111 at the axle 105 at the front of the heel plate 110. It is aligned with the holes at the sides of the concave 102 on axle 105. Nylon bushes 115 are provided between the axle 105 and the through hole 112, making the footboard freely pivotable.
In this conventional structure, the axle 105 is fixed to the footboard 100 but rotates inside the inner hole of the nylon bush 115 that has been installed on the heel plate 110 as the footboard 100 pivots. To reduce the friction resistance with the axle 105 during rotation, a gap S1 is formed in the inner hole of the nylon bush 115. In addition, a gap S2 for reducing friction resistance is required between the nylon bush 115 that has been installed on the heel plate 110 and the concave 102 of the footboard 100.
However, either gap S1 or S2 creates looseness or play in the footboard 100 during operation of the foot pedal, possibly causing noise or beating power loss during a performance. Some performers dislike this kind of looseness or play.
Moreover, it is important that these foot pedals have good overall performance, including adequate response and reaction time. Over the years, drum pedals have been under continuous development, for improving the response of the pedals, the reaction time, and the overall feel of the drum pedal to the drummer himself, for maximizing the performance of the drummer in playing bass drums. The need thus exists to improve the frictional engagement of the moving parts of a drum pedal while permitting an adjustable foot pedal to change the feel of the pedal, to accommodate different sized feet, and to enhance or improve the performance of the drum pedal.